My buddy talked to a rep at Ruger today and asked about the soot on his spent factory brass. The rep told him that he might have an oversized chamber. He suggested that my buddy send in his Ruger American Ranch rifle along with one of his spent factory rounds to see if they needed to replace his barrel. I ask this question as I also own one of these rifles and have soot on the spent factory brass. Does this happen only with the Ruger Ranch rifles or does this happen other bolt action, single shot and AR platform rifles as well?

My Windham Weaponry AR15 upper also soots up the outsides of the cases somewhat. I reload for this gun and have observed that I can barely fit a new bullet back inside the case mouth of a fired cartridge which leads me to believe the chamber is a tight one on this gun.

RLWithrow wrote:...snip... I reload for this gun and have observed that I can barely fit a new bullet back inside the case mouth of a fired cartridge which leads me to believe the chamber is a tight one on this gun.

Actually, that's par for the course. Even with my loosey goosey, eccentric chamber on my first factory 450b, I could force a bullet down into a fired case but it took some effort. If someone gives or sells you some of their 1-fired brass, tumble it the same as ones you fired. Lube them up to the same extent and see how much resistance each poses to going through the sizing die.

Hoot

In Theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In Practice, there is.

Like many people, I go through separation anxiety when one of my guns (babies) has to leave me temporarily, but if factory ammo is sooting, your chamber is cut too big and the barrel needs to be replaced. Unlike semi-autos, bolt action chambers don't have to be loosey goosey to assure cycling. Look at the rule versus the exception. If everyone's rifle has sooting to the same degree as yours with factory ammo, then its just par for the course. If not, something is different with your rifle. Now sooting never stopped me from shooting, as it does "come out in the wash", but that doesn't make it right. When rifles in this caliber were hard to come by, you just put up with it. That's not the case anymore. Send it in and play with one (or more) of your other calibers. Up here, November is rifle, deer hunting month. The only rifle, deer hunting month. If you really want to hunt with your 450b, don't wait too long to send it in.

Hoot

In Theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In Practice, there is.